The Mitchells vs. The Machines (Rianda and Rowe)

I’m conflicted about this movie. As a comedy, it is one of the funniest films I’ve seen in quite some time. As a film, it is truly awful: as formulaic as a physicist on crack and about as subtle as a male seal in mating season [

Show Spoiler

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...b00140cd698ff1

]. As a family movie, it made me embarrassed to be a parent, a millennial, and a millennial parent. Fortunately or unfortunately, Mitchells v. Machines gets a yay on account of the sheer talent involved in all aspects of the movie: cast is fantastic, script is sharp, and the technical aspects are all kind of a marvel. As an observation, the animation style is very different from other techniques I’ve seen. It blends a number of different styles and is just… interesting. Outside of that, I wouldn’t go out of my way to see this. If I were obligated to sit through it, though, there are worse ways to spend two hours.

**.5/*****

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Originally Posted by quido8_5

As a film, it is truly awful: as formulaic as a physicist on crack and about as subtle as a male seal in mating season [

Show Spoiler

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...b00140cd698ff1

].

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Right?????!!!!!

This has a ridiculously high score on Rotten Tomatoes. I can't understand it. The animation and character design are both ace, but everything else is terrible. I couldn't believe how lame the plot was or how thin the themes. It's bad sitcom/videogame level writing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9wr4KAv3LI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ42ruf2WQE
Watching it this week.

The opening is the first time I ever have a film make me feel "old"; I get the references but it feels like they just put online/internet stuff up there on screen (and seemingly at half speed as if to highlight "see this? recognize this?" too) without crafting its own actual joke. Thankfully, that kind of thing is more intersped throughout rather than front-and-center as the film goes on. Cool animation with some neat jokes and action (love the mall sequence) help the too-long running time breeze by enough, but the drama parts are the kind of heavily themed/telegraphed emotional beats that grit my teeth a bit. And this started popping into my head by the fourth or fifth the film and/or the characters insist they're not like other people:

https://img.wattpad.com/897ed49f9090...3033312e676966

6.5/10

Peng, that meme is spot on. I also felt old pretty much throughout. When the incredibly corny Live Your Life plant-and-payoff happened, I almost wept for how icky this made me feel. Thing is, I bet it worked. I haven't read many non-critic reviews, but my guess is that millennial parents eat that shit up.

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Originally Posted by Philip J. Fry

Watching it this week.

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Be interested to hear your thoughts.

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Originally Posted by quido8_5

Be interested to hear your thoughts.

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I do agree with you guys in that the drama either feels cliched and/or unsubtle, however, that bothered me way less than you because of how funny it was. It had that same manic energy and insane batting average of Gravity Falls (the director and several members of the staff worked well) while it had it's had the heart of that show. And while it does lean heavily on internet memes for humor, I thought it felt more as a reflection of the way the characters see the world (like Katie who kinda feels like she has ADHD) than as pandering or a source of lazy humor. It kinda reminded me of how Scott Pilgrim used comic and video game references for a similar effect.

I thoroughly loved this movie.

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Originally Posted by Philip J. Fry

I do agree with you guys in that the drama either feels cliched and/or unsubtle, however, that bothered me way less than you because of how funny it was. It had that same manic energy and insane batting average of Gravity Falls (the director and several members of the staff worked well) while it had it's had the heart of that show. And while it does lean heavily on internet memes for humor, I thought it felt more as a reflection of the way the characters see the world (like Katie who kinda feels like she has ADHD) than as pandering or a source of lazy humor. It kinda reminded me of how Scott Pilgrim used comic and video game references for a similar effect.

I thoroughly loved this movie.

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Great take. I want to thoroughly love this movie and really appreciate what you brought up about experiencing the characters' world. It definitely has a Scott Pilgrim vibe and, alas, this again makes me wonder about millennial bait.

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Originally Posted by quido8_5

Great take. I want to thoroughly love this movie and really appreciate what you brought up about experiencing the characters' world. It definitely has a Scott Pilgrim vibe and, alas, this again makes me wonder about millennial bait.

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I don't mind Millennial bait when it's done as well as in those two films.

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Originally Posted by quido8_5

As an observation, the animation style is very different from other techniques I’ve seen. It blends a number of different styles and is just… interesting.

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The one other movie it reminded me of was Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse.

Yeah, this was extremely overhyped. It has solid jokes but it runs exactly long enough to drag and the plot is formulaic to a fault. I could see every engine and bit of machinery clicking way too clearly. Did not mind the millenial-ness so much... and besides, don't you guys mean centennials?